Wishes That Slow Down Death
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: He had just been planning on surprising them. Now, in this nightmarish twist of events, he has to save them.
1. Frightening I

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
1. Frightening I**

It was like a dream…or a nightmare. Any moment he'd wake up and that screeching sound wouldn't be deafening his ears and blood wouldn't be splattered everywhere in sight and his body wouldn't be screaming out in pain in the otherwise silent echo in his ears.

Except his body was still wailing, the copper smell of blood was starting to fill his nose and throat, and the echo of metal tearing against metal and glass and surprised shouts of terrors cut off too soon was still there, being very slow to die.

It was terrifying, and reality. They had crashed.


	2. Funny I

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
2. Funny I**

It had been a good idea at the time. He would go along on their field trip and surprise them. He'd join in on the fun – because there was no reason he should drown in study like his classmates when his little sister and friends were having fun.

And, of course, the Little Busters couldn't dream of having fun without _him_ there. Or they shouldn't. If they were, the surprise he'd planned would be punishment enough for them. The idea had tickled him for weeks, and only because he was a master planner did he manage to keep the secret.


	3. Frightening II

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
3. Frightening II**

The bus crashing had not been part of the plan, and it had scared him out of wits…along with, probably, every student and staff member on that bus. He couldn't see what was going on. He'd tucked himself away with the luggage. That was the first bit detached after the review mirrors. He was thrown, blindly, into the valley below.

He thought he blacked out for a bit. He must have, because the world looked so different when he forced open his eyes. All slightly vague and red and dizzying, and he almost wanted to close his eyes and dream.


	4. Frightening III

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
4. Frightening III**

The nightmare refused to go away. He could smell all the blood, enough to make him throw up if desperation wasn't clinging to all parts of him. At least it drove way the need to fall unconscious and dream. Dreams wouldn't replace reality, and his reality was in danger.

He got to his knees and crawled. Crawled until he reached the nearest ones, and the ones most dear to him. Rin, and Riki – both of them were still alive, their chests rising and falling slowly. But beside them, Kengo and Masato…

They'd shielded Rin and Riki…and paid the ultimate price.


	5. Frightening IV

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
5. Frightening IV**

It wasn't just Kengo and Masato. All those others he didn't know by name – and he only knew them because of his friends – were dead. Not one of them moved. Not one of their hearts pulsed beneath his fingertips, to give him hope. It was just Rin and Riki – his little sister and her closest friend.

And him. Maybe. Or maybe he was dying as well, because he'd been leaving a trail of blood behind him without noticing. A trail that was deep and red and mocking because he was going to die as well, leaving Rin and Riki behind.


	6. Frightening V

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
6. Frightening V**

Rin and Riki…of all the people, he was glad those two were safe – but he also knew they'd never be able to live after this, after the tragedy that would no doubt be written in history. Rin and Riki…they were the ones who clung to people, who needed those people they clung to. They'd met Riki like that, torn away from the people he'd so dearly loved. Hollow eyes, hopeless expression, in and out of the hospital –

If he lost them, who'd brought him back from that, he'd wind up in an even worse state. And Rin was the same.


	7. Funny II

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
7. Funny II**

And he was supposed to protect them too. He'd sworn since they day Rin was born he'd protect her. And when he'd met Riki, Kyousuke had instinctively known that Riki was another person he had to protect.

It was just like that. It was just supposed to be like that.

What a joke that was. They were alive, yes, but no thanks to him. And alive to what? A nightmare they'd never in their wildest nightmares imagined happening. Everyone dead. A happy trip that had ended in tragedy. That couldn't be. That just couldn't be…

But it was just that.


	8. Funny III

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
8. Funny III**

Kyousuke suddenly realised he wasn't moving any more. He'd fallen at some point, flat on his face. If Masoto was conscious, _alive_, he'd be laughing his head off. Maybe Kengo would have given him a good thwack with his kendo stick as well.

Masato would deserve it, making fun of him while he was bleeding out like a stuck pig. But then again, Masato wasn't blind like that. He noticed things other people missed. There was no way he'd missed all that blood. Kyousuke with his head half in the clouds hadn't managed to miss the blood he lay in.


	9. Funny IV

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
9. Funny IV**

It was pathetic. That he couldn't drag himself up, couldn't do a single _damn _thing…

He was seriously going to die like this. Die and leave the two people who couldn't afford to lose him behind. Fate was…fate was really horrible to them. Never had he dreamt he'd die like this. Never had he dreamt he'd die before Riki and Rin.

If only he could find a way to make sure that didn't happen. Find a way to save everyone…or at least give those two the strength to stand up for themselves they didn't think would be needed so soon.


	10. Funny V

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
10. Funny V**

When he blinked and found himself drifting in black and yellow, he wondered if he'd lost that pathetic little battle to hang on to life and died.

Somehow, the afterlife didn't look anything like he'd imagined it. It was…remarkably dull. Just black. Like a dark cave with no end he'd wander in for eternity…or at least until reincarnation.

He'd hoped he'd at least have some company, but apparently not. And if this was how things were staying, the afterlife was going to be a nightmare. Nothing fun. Nothing distracting, to keep him from thinking about what had been left behind.


	11. Frightening VI

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
11. Frightening VI**

There had to be something.

But there wasn't. Only black, and loneliness, and the growing feeling of helplessness. He couldn't take that. He'd never been the sort of person to just sit or stand around, but the place he'd wandered into was leaving him no choice.

But he wouldn't accept that. If nothing else, Riki and Rin had still been alive. They could still be saved. If only he could go back and help them get stronger, prepare them for what was coming. He could imagine Rin's desolate, hopeless tears, imagine the blank look in Riki's eyes before too-long sleeps.


	12. Funny VI

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
12. Funny VI**

That would be a good joke. Being able to go back in time and make them stronger – so why didn't he go back in time and save everyone instead? Play the hero and everyone could come back from this, safe and sound.

But that wasn't going to happen. There was no such thing after all. No such way. And yet here he was, considering it anyway, for an entirely different reason – as if the reason would be enough to make the impossible possible.

Of course it wouldn't, unless there was some afterlife power that let him reincarnate before his time.


	13. Frightening VII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
13. Frightening VII**

Time let hope slip away. Time in the lonely black that had no meaning. He knew that would happen. He didn't want it to – he _refused _to let it steal away that thing from him.

Time. Time was the enemy, in the end. If it couldn't be turned back, at least stopping it…long enough for Rin and Riki to grow, long enough for them to survive the world that would eventually be set in to motion again…

Impossible, but he was wishing anyway. That was his regret after all: leaving them so soon, unprepared. He couldn't lose hope like that.


	14. Frightening VIII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
14. Frightening VIII**

Suddenly, he began to hear voices. Suddenly, loud enough to make him jump before his hammering heart understood. Voices speaking of regrets, other regrets that weren't his own but like his voice all the same. So many regrets… and they'd been powerful enough to connect through the black. Maybe…

Maybe all these regrets could tie together, create a strong enough force to produce the miracle they all wished for, the time on their side. To reverse time, or to freeze it and create a new pocket of time… Anything, so long as all of them could get that second chance…


	15. Funny VII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
15. Funny VII**

Some of the regrets he could hear might have tickled him if the situation had been anything different, if it was just the Little Busters lying by the riverside or in Riki's and Makoto's room and just throwing nonsense at each other. But others, those unfulfilled dreams, pulled at his heart.

It was those he reached out to most fiercely, and how he dulled their sharp voices, so they were in the background, lending him their strength. Then he could hear the others more clearly: Kengo, Makoto…and a few girls in Rin's class, he thought.

Suddenly, they were tied together.


	16. Frightening IX

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
16. Frightening IX**

A plan was forming in his mind, with the possibility. He didn't know why he felt it was suddenly possible, nor why those particular people had remained such strong voices in his ears. But it was clear they didn't mind helping him, being helped in return – the passage to fulfil those regrets they had died with.

Or maybe they hadn't quite died yet, and he hadn't quite died yet either, and that was why it was possible. Why they could still hope, go back and still live…a little longer…

They could fail. That was a frightening future…but they could change that.


	17. Funny VIII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
17. Funny VIII**

The idea was a little ridiculous, really. Classic Kyousuke…and what better time to shine at his brightest? But he was sure it would work, and work to everyone's advantage. Maybe nit right away. Maybe they'd need to restart multiple times, but they'd get there eventually. Everyone's regrets would fade away. Regrets that Riki and Rin would face as well, and conquer. Regrets that would make Riki and Rin stronger as well.

He was sure they would run away at first, but they'd push from behind. They'd turn despair into hope. They'd turn powerlessness into power. They'd pass on without regrets.


	18. Frightening X

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
18. Frightening X**

He might have been too hopeful. There were too many failures. Too often he carried Riki's unconscious form back through time, left behind that sight that had turn his eyes hopelessly blank. Too often he'd lost Rin chasing after her, turn back time to a place he knew where she was, so he could keep on following and pushing from behind…

But eventually all the pushing starts getting somewhere. Regrets start being relieved. The second years start passing on. Riki and Rin start getting stronger, one little step at a time…

He'd been afraid the dream would end too quick.


	19. Funny IX

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
19. Funny IX**

And they had a lot of fun. That hadn't been part of the plan but they had it anyway. Or maybe that came under Makoto's and Kengo's regrets. Kyousuke didn't bother trying to rationalise that. He just enjoyed it.

Sometimes, with all the laughs they had that they hadn't had before, he could almost forget it wasn't real, wasn't reality. He could forget that tragedy was waiting for them all when they left that little pocket of frozen time. He could forget that this time wasn't actually happening at all: that the time didn't exist anywhere except in their hearts.


	20. Funny X

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
20. Funny X**

But he couldn't always forget. The regrets were even more prominent in this world and there were there for Riki and Rin to complete. Sometimes they fell back, start over. Eventually they got near the end, and Kyousuke was happy, happy that his regret, one of the last, would be almost gone.

But he'd jumped the gun. Things had gone so well in this timeline he didn't consider he'd gone too far, done too much. It didn't occur to him that separating Riki and Rin wouldn't strengthen them at all but rather undue everything they'd accomplished in this frozen time.


	21. Funny XI

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
21. Funny XI**

He started once more, but the truth was, his heart had already given up. He'd seen both of them: Riki with those dead eyes not even seeing Rin's curled form in the corner. That scene he'd so desperately wanted to prevent – all he'd succeeded in doing, after all that hoping, all that progress – was cement it into stone.

It was kind of funny. Riki had told him that would happen. Riki…one of two people in that fake world who didn't know how fame it really was. And maybe Kyousuke had started thinking of himself like God, because he hadn't listened.


	22. Funny XII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
22. Funny XII**

He'd underestimated Riki. And he was glad, because that meant he was wrong. Even if, once upon a time, he'd hated being wrong.

But this time, it was fine. Being wrong meant there was still hope, hope he'd given up on. Being wrong meant there was still time, still a chance…

Although part of him had resigned to just hiding in this world until time ran out, he didn't mind if Riki dragged him back into the light, if it was Riki, and with Rin by his side. Dragged him back into the fun and games that would soon die.


	23. Funny XIII

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
23. Funny XIII**

They managed it: Riki and Rin. They'd beaten him, bested him, dragged him out from the blanket he'd been taking shelter in and had fun with him, like he'd done so many times with the others before. The final trial that was more a careless afterthought than a well thought out plan…but they passed that hurdle.

And now the time to leave the dream like world was approaching, but he wanted to enjoy it a little more. It hit him pretty hard then, that once this world vanished he'd be dead. Everyone aside from Riki and Rin would be dead.


	24. Funny XIV

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
24. Funny XIV**

Kyousuke wondered when the afterlife had decided to remodel, because he woke up to white and the smell of cleaning products and coffee. But then he blinked and realised he was in a hospital room, and he laughed.

Riki and Rin…it must have been Riki and Rin. Those two had surpassed him all right. They'd done the impossible.

His back was burning. He'd been blocking the gas, he recalled. That meant Riki and Rin…together, they'd saved everyone. Every student on that bus, and then at lucky last him – because the gas would have caught aflame and killed the rest otherwise.


	25. Funny XV

**A/N: **Written for the Duel World Challenge, vs. Skull Servant.

* * *

**Wishes That Slow Down Death  
25. Funny XV**

They had lots of fun times after, once he was released from the hospital and everyone's wounds had recovered and he'd given his apologies to everyone only for them to be thrown back in his face. They had their own field trip: just the Little Busters getting a treat of his driving – and he took advantage of the opportunity and put Riki behind the wheel for a bit as well, because he was the older brother figure and Riki needed to know how to drive at some point…

Somehow, their wish to keep living these happy times had been fulfilled.


End file.
